Page 14 - Work Force April 2022

Invasion of Ukraine impacts Orange County family
MIDDLETOWN — While evenings for young families are often reserved
for bath time and books, Orange County Unit 3rd Vice President Brian Johnson’s family routine includes a nightly call from Kyiv.
Johnson’s wife Kateryna was born and raised in Ukraine and came to the United States weeks after 9/11, several years after her mother immigrated here. Kateryna’s father, Dmytrie, has remained in the capital city of Kyiv.
“My father-in-law
and his brother have chosen to remain in Kyiv,” said Johnson, a horticultural assistant at SUNY Orange. “They’ve both previously served in the Ukrainian military and are loyal to their president and country. They want to support their
country in this time of crisis.”
Much like other Ukrainian citizens,
supply shortages have impacted Johnson’s father-in-law. With many store shelves bare, he’s been baking his own bread from scratch. Still,
he is able to check in nightly with Johnson, his wife and their two young sons.
Johnson said
the local support
for Ukraine has
been a source of encouragement for his family and many others.
A supply drive held at Saint Andrew Ukrainian Catholic Church in nearby Campbell
Hall was so successful that church leaders ran out of storage space.
Ukrainian culture is rich in
the Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey. About a half-hour from Middletown is the hamlet of
Orange County Unit 3rd Vice President Brian Johnson, right, and his wife Kateryna, who is from Ukraine and who has family members who are in Kyiv. (Photo submitted by Brian Johnson.)
Kerhonkson in Ulster County, where the Ukrainian National Foundation operates Soyuzivka, a heritage center that hosts summer camps, language programs, weddings and festivals.
Johnson said his wife works
to connect their sons with her Ukrainian roots, cooking traditional dishes and embracing more significant Ukrainian holidays such as Easter.
Johnson said a particularly
tough thing for his wife and other Ukrainian-Americans in recent weeks is witnessing the attacks on the most innocent Ukrainian citizens.
“The attacks on women and children are the worst,” said Johnson, referencing the recent Russian airstrike that hit a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. “These are innocent civilians who don’t deserve this.”
— Jessica Ladlee
The American flag and Ukraine flag and coat of arms hang outside Orange County Unit 3rd Vice President Brian Johnson and his wife Kateryna’s home. (Photo submitted by Brian Johnson.)
“The attacks
on women and children are the worst. These are innocent civilians who don’t deserve this.”
CSEA Capital Region Executive Vice President Shana Davis, far right, recently enjoys courtside seats at a Siena College basketball game in Albany. Davis had won tickets to the game during the region’s recent Match Play event that was organized by region officers as a way to keep CSEA members connected during the pandemic. The game tickets were donated as a prize by CAP COM Federal Credit Union, one of CSEA’s endorsed benefit providers. Davis brought along to the game a person she knew from her church, Jessica Edrington, who Davis recently learned is also a CSEA member. Edrington is an internal control and audit specialist at the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs. From left in photo are CAP COM CSEA Account Representative Kyle McKenna, CAP COM CEO Chris McKenna, Jessica Edrington and Shana Davis. (Photo by Adam Acquario.)
14
The Work Force
April 2022